


Back To That Same Old Place

by hexmaniacchoco



Series: April Fool's! I still haven't come up with a title yet [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Team Free Will, Wizard of Oz References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-20 20:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexmaniacchoco/pseuds/hexmaniacchoco
Summary: Sam, Dean, and Cas suddenly find themselves in a strange place and learn the only way they can return home is to go see "someone" calling themselves The Trickster. However, before he can help them, they have to first find a girl who's trapped in the same place, and together they need to track down and stop the creature responsible for keeping them all there.





	1. Unusual Weather

**Author's Note:**

> A thank you to [pod7et](http://archiveofourown.org/users/poD7et/pseuds/poD7et) and one of my friends for suggesting some ideas that helped me figure out where to go with this fic, and again to pod7et for showing me the wonderful thing that is Google Docs. No text was made invisible in the writing of this fic, thanks to that.

The sound of torrential rain pounding against the door filled the bunker even as far as where Sam, Dean, and Cas sat in the bunker's library. They could even hear the wind howling. Thunder roared, following a loud crack of lightning. The lights dimmed and flickered for just a moment, causing the three of them to look up from what they were doing, wondering if the power was actually about to go out. They were confident in the bunker's general ability to withstand strong weather. The lighting was a different story though.    
  
"Sounds like the storm got worse," Sam commented, before going back to the book he had been reading. Dean pulled his laptop screen down halfway.    
  
"Should we get a candle or something?" he asked.    
  
"We can get one if and when the power goes out," Cas idly replied, not looking up from his phone.    
  
"You might be fine, but Sam and I can't see in the dark, Cas."    
  
Sam put down his book. He put his hand on his chin and looked down, and said, "I think we have some candles around here somewhere. We probably won't need them, but we might as well look for them now."    
  
"They're probably with the summoning stuff," Dean suggested.    
  
"Great, I'll start there then," Sam replied, getting up from his seat and leaving the room.    
  
Dean looked at Cas, who sighed and put his phone away. He then stood up without saying anything and left the room in a different direction from the one Sam had gone in. Dean stood up as well, heading towards the bunker entrance to take a peek outside. He only got as far as the war room though when Crowley suddenly appeared in front of him, looking short-tempered, his suit torn at the legs and arms in some places.    
  
"Hello, Squirrel. I've come to ask a favor of you and your oversized brother," he said, trying to sound casually mocking.    
  
"Yeah?" Dean replied, not really paying any attention and walking past him. "What happened to your fancy suit, Crowley?" he added, pausing only to glance at the frays and tears.    
  
Crowley stuck an arm out, stopping him. "The angel too, if he's around," he continued in rising irritation.    
  
Dean chuckled and asked, "Cas? He did this?"    
  
"I was bitten," Crowley answered, closing his eyes tightly.    
  
"Cas bit you?"    
  
"What? No!" Crowley hissed, dropping his arm and looking at Dean in indignation. "Now where’s Sam and--"    
  
Dean grinned. "Sam bit you?"    
  
"NO. Now if you'll just LISTEN--"    
  
"So what? Cas bit you and you bit Sam and he bit Cas? ...Kinky.”   
  
"It waS A BLOODY HELLHOUND, AND THIS WAS AN EXPENSIVE SUIT THAT I JUST BOUGHT. SO EXCUSE ME IF I DON’T HAVE THE PATIENCE FOR YOUR ANTICS AT THE MOMENT. SO IF YOU'RE DONE--"    
  
"Whoa whoa whoa-- One of your hounds attacked you?" Dean interrupted to ask, some concern in his voice. The demon usually had total control over them, so if they started acting up, or worse--obeying someone else--that probably meant bad news for everyone.    
  
Crowley sighed in exasperation. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "She didn’t  _ attack _ me, they know better. They know perfectly well who their master is. She’s just a puppy and hasn't learned not to jump yet,” he explained, “Now if you’re done being your usual self, there’s something I’d like to ask from the three of you.”    
  
“Sorry Crowley. I’d love to chat, but we’re kind of busy right now,” Dean told him, continuing toward the bunker’s entrance. The lights flickered as if to emphasize this, and the war room rattled with a particularly strong gust of wind.    
  
“Oh, pardon me. I didn’t realize you were busy,” Crowley started, anger flooding into his voice with every word, “It’s just that I am the KING of HELL, and--”   
  
“Crowley, just because you’re the king of Hell doesn’t mean that you can just come in here and order us around,” Sam said, suddenly walking into the war room from the library with a few candles in hand and rolling his eyes. Cas stood next to him, also carrying a handful of candles. He didn’t say anything, but instead just looked at Crowley. There was a very low but loud rumble of thunder, and the wind shrieked outside the door.    
  
Dean put his hand on Crowley’s shoulder, and the demon immediately swatted it away. “Look, Crowley,” Dean said, heading back towards where Sam and Cas stood, “Depending on what it is, we’ll help. But at the moment, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a giant freaking storm outside and we’re not going anywhere or doing anything. Unless of course you just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar or something.”     
  
“After all I’ve done for you lot, and still none of you will so much as give me the time of day!” Crowley decried.    
  
“It’s… 12:07 in the afternoon, Crowley,” Cas said.    
  
Crowley opened his mouth and gave him a “wtf” look, and then closed it again. Staring hard at the three of them, he vanished.    
  
Dean took a few candles from Sam and Cas’ hands and started placing them on the library tables. “So, what now?” he asked.    
  
“Well, I was just going to go back to reading,” Sam replied, placing the last of the candles he had on the table.    
  
“I was content with passing the time on my phone,” Cas added. He touched the wicks of three of the candles, small flames appearing on each of them.    
  
“Guess I’ll just go back to my laptop then,” Dean sighed.    
  
The three of them returned to where they had been earlier. Sam picked up the book he was reading again, Cas pulled out his phone, and Dean opened his laptop. It was only a few minutes later, however, that the rain suddenly stopped beating at the door and the wind died down.    
  
Dean looked up, as did Sam and Cas. “Huh. Looks like the storm is over,” he said.    
  
Sam furrowed his brows. He was about to say something, but Cas sat up straighter and quieted him before he could get any words out.    
  
“Something isn’t right,” he said, putting his phone back into his pocket and standing up. He looked over toward the war room where the bunker’s entrance was. Without another word, he started walking over to it. Sam and Dean exchanged confused looks of concern before getting up to follow him. Once at the door, Cas opened it cautiously.    
  
Outside, the clouds were a dark grey, nearly black in some places, and yet the trees seemed to glow as if highlighted by sunlight, in complete contradiction to the utterly sunless sky above. The air was eerily still, as well. Not a single leaf or blade of grass so much as rustled. There was no sound of wind, or rain, or thunder; everything was perfectly quiet, tranquil even. They stepped outside, walking a short distance away, and looked around in wonder.    
  
Then, gradually, it began to hail. Sam rubbed his head as a decent sized hailstone hit him. He shrugged and turned to Cas. “I don’t know, man,” he said, “It’s the usual weather we’re having, isn’t it? It’s bad weather for sure, but worst case it’s probably just a tornado or something.”    
  
Dean held his hands up over his head to protect himself as the hailstorm increased in intensity. As it did, the sky began to take on a vivid, emerald green color. “This is Kansas and it is springtime,” Dean agreed, “I’m thinking we should head back inside. The bunker’s been here untouched all these years so we’ll be fine.” He clapped a hand on Cas’ shoulder and tugged a little to pull him back toward the door, but Cas ignored it, a perturbed expression on his face.    
  
“No… There’s something else,” he said, shielding his eyes and squinting up at the sky, “but I can’t figure out what…”    
  
Sam and Dean pulled their jackets up over their heads, and Dean extended part of his out to cover Cas as well. The sky now blocked from his view, he looked at Dean, who was looking back at the door.   
  
“Let’s figure out inside where we’re safe and not being pelted with ice, Cas,” he said, trying again to nudge him toward the bunker with his arm.    
  
Not waiting for an answer, Sam got beside Cas and put his arm around him as well, joining Dean in the effort to get themselves back inside. Cas obliged them, but after a single step forward the hail ceased abruptly and it began to snow instead.    
  
“Ok, this is a little more unusual,” Dean remarked.    
  
They lowered their jackets, and the three of them peered at the sky. Dean yawned.    
  
“We should… really be getting back inside,” he said, surprised at the sluggishness of his words.    
  
“Yeah,” Sam agreed, yawning and stretching his arms above his head, “This is really weird… maybe we were… wrong…” He blinked a few times.    
  
“Cas, come on…,” Dean said, putting an arm around Cas’ shoulder again and trying once more to pull him toward the door. His arm was heavy though, and he found himself stumbling into Cas instead. “Oh, sorry man--” he mumbled, and righted himself.    
  
Cas looked at Sam and Dean as they struggled to stay standing, both looking absolutely exhausted. He was worried. This definitely had something to do with the strange feeling he had, and he definitely needed to get them back inside. His eyes widened as he felt a drowsiness come over him as well. A tired weight appeared in his chest that he hadn’t felt since he was subsisting off of stolen grace. It gently pulled at him, made the ground look inviting and comfortable. He yawned.    
  
“Cas…?” Sam asked, rubbing his eyes, “Are you... affec...te..d...?” He trailed the last word. His knees gave out, and he fell to the ground, fast asleep.    
  
“Sam!” Cas called out. He looked at Dean, who had been leaning more and more against him. He was also knocked out. The slight turn was enough for Dean’s arm to fall from Cas’ shoulder, and the momentum of it pulled him down with it. Cas caught him before he could hit the ground. He tried to shake him awake and called his name, but he didn’t stir. Cas held Dean in one arm against his side and made his way toward Sam. If he could just get them inside, maybe it would be enough to be out of the strange snow and they’d wake up. At the very least, they’d be safe.    
  
When he was next to Sam, he bent down to scoop him up in his other arm. Carrying the two of them should have been no problem for him, but as he pulled them along toward the bunker, gravity fought against him until he was dragging them. The door was only a few feet away. His eyes started to close more frequently, getting heavier each time he opened them. He paused just outside the threshold. He tried to throw them both through the doorway, but all he achieved was to spin to the side, crashing into the wall and sliding down it.    
  
Unable to will himself to stand again, he looked out at the sky. The snow had stopped, but he couldn’t feel any energy returning to him. It only continued to be drained. It was clear moving inside wouldn’t have been enough to reverse the effects of whatever that snow was. Still, the sky had begun to churn and the wind picked up again. He could make out a constant roar and rumble from somewhere in the distance that he knew wasn’t thunder. He looked at where they were collapsed outside the bunker door. It wasn’t anywhere near ideal, but being just outside the doorway was probably safer than where they might have been. With the last of his strength, he pulled Sam and Dean closer to him, clumsily wrapping the sides of his coat around them as best he could to keep them warm. He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and closed them. As he fell asleep, he hoped he would awaken to find them safe and unharmed.    
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
“Better get under cover! There’s a storm comin’--a _giant freakin’ one_ , to speak in the vernacular of the Winchesters. Poor kids, I hope they’ll be alright.”    
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    



	2. Not in Kansas

Dean opened his eyes and blinked to clear the sleep from them. His heart froze as he suddenly remembered what happened and he scrambled to his feet.    
  
“Sam! Cas!” he called out, spinning around to look for them. He spotted them both a few yards away, still sprawled out on the ground. His breath hitched, and he ran over to them. He heard a groan from Sam, and dropped to his knees to help his brother sit up.    
  
“Hey! Sam! You alright?” he asked, panicked.    
  
Sam held his hand to his head. “Yeah, I… I think so,” he mumbled. He looked up at Dean, whose face lit up in relief. “Where’s Cas?” he groggily asked in turn.    
  
At that, Dean’s expression turned to worry once again, and he quickly turned toward where Cas was still lying. There hadn’t been any sign of movement yet, and even though it had only been half a minute or so, Dean’s heart started to beat faster. He stood up and jogged the short distance, reaching him in a few steps. He knelt over him and grabbed his shoulders.    
  
“Cas! Hey! Wake up!” he tried, shaking him gently. When nothing happened, he shook him harder.    
  
“ _Cas!_ ”    
  
Cas’ eyes flew open and he gasped, sitting up so quickly Dean couldn’t move away and their heads crashed together. Dean recoiled and fell over, landing on his back and holding his forehead.    
  
“Arrggggh!  _ Son of a…! _ ” he shouted through gritted teeth, face scrunched up in pain.    
  
Unaffected by their collision, Cas calmed his breathing and crawled over to Dean. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking Dean’s hand and replacing it with his own.    
  
In a few seconds, Dean’s pained expression eased and he opened his eyes. Cas removed his hand and stood up, holding out a hand to help Dean up as well. Dean took it, and as he stood, he saw Sam walking over to them.    
  
“Where the hell are we?” he asked once he reached them.    
  
They looked around. They were in a grassy field that extended in all directions as far as the eye could see. The sky was cloudless and blue, and the sun was shining. It was pleasantly warm, and there was an occasional cool breeze that swept past them. They could hear birds singing, but couldn’t see any.   
  
“Shit if I know…,” Dean muttered quietly.    
  
Suddenly, there was the sound of a small dog’s bark coming from directly behind them. They spun around, startled after not having seen anything approaching them. Dean’s eyes widened.   
  
“Baby?!” he exclaimed.    
  
There in the field, sitting right where she hadn’t been a few seconds earlier, was the Impala. Dean ran up to her and began to inspect every inch. Sam and Cas watched patiently. A few minutes later, satisfied, he turned back toward them and grinned.    
  
“Now it doesn’t matter where we are!” he said happily, “Baby’s got everything we need!”    
  
“Yeah, but why’d she make a… a barking noise?”  Sam asked, gesturing his confusion.    
  
“And where did she come from?” Cas added.    
  
The three of them held their chins and looked down, trying to gain some idea of where they were. Their ponderings were interrupted however, when they came to the realization that they were in fact no longer in the beautiful fields of green, but standing on the rather short ledge of a building. Golden red rays of sunlight streamed in from the horizon, and the sky was a brilliant orange. It was breathtaking. And also hundreds or even thousands of feet up in the air.    
  
“Holy  _ shit! _ ” Dean cried out, taking a quick step back and flattening his body against the wall. He grabbed the backs of Sam’s jacket and Cas’ coat and pulled them back as well.   
  
Sam shut his eyes tight and pressed himself as close as he could to the yellow bricks behind them, saying under his breath, “Ooooh my God. Oh my God. What the hell just happened.”    
  
“We’ve been moved somewhere else,” Cas noted, turning around to peer into a large window.    
  
“Ya think?!” Dean scoffed, holding his chest. He took a moment to catch his breath, then turned to see what Cas was looking at. Sam did the same.    
  
The window showed them a hallway where people were hanging out in or walking through. Many of them had backpacks on, so they were probably students.    
  
“Is this… is this a  _ school _ ?” Sam asked incredulously.    
  
“Yeah who cares about that,” Dean said. He started rapping on the window, trying to get someone’s attention. “Hey!” he called out, “Hey! Open this window!” When no one so much as looked at his, he started slapping it with his open hand. Still nothing.    
  
“Hey open this window you friggin’ little brats!” he called again, this time pounding on the window with his fist.    
  
Cas grabbed Dean’s arm to stop him. “I don’t think it’s working, Dean,” he said, “Let me try.” He moved Sam and Dean further to the side. He pulled his fist back and punched the window forcefully. Nothing happened. Dean and Sam looked between Cas in the window, mouths open in awe. Cas shook his fist, and glared at the sheet of glass before him. He glanced at Sam and Dean and motioned for them to move even more to the side. As they sidled further away, he placed his hand against the glass. Blue light shone from his eyes, and he stared fiercely at the window. The building began to shake as a light started surrounding him, but then all at once it stopped, and Cas pulled his hand back. He lifted his arm in exasperation and turned toward Dean. “That should have been enough,” he said, tired confusion in his voice.    
  
“Wait wait wait, no-- look!” Sam shouted suddenly, pointing at a girl who had stopped to look out the window--look at  _ them _ out the window. She had her hand cupped over her eyes and was looking at the window with astonishment.   
  
The three of them started knocking at the window and calling out to her, but she made no move to open it. Instead, she tilted her head to the side in what looked like confusion. Thinking that maybe the glass was soundproof and she couldn’t hear them but wondering why that would even matter, they tried making gestures to tell her to open the window. She smiled at them, and for a moment they thought she finally understood, but then she quickly turned her head to the side as if noticing something there. Without sparing them another glance, she ran off in the direction she had been looking in and was gone.    
  
“What the hell?!” Dean shouted, affronted at her complete ignorance of their pleas.    
  
Sam sighed, and carefully lowered himself until he was sitting on the ledge, his legs dangling in the air. Cas joined him, and at an expectant look from the angel, so did Dean--except there was no way he was going to have his legs hanging over the edge, so he sat with them mostly crossed.    
  
“It looks like we’re stuck here,” Cas grumbled, leaning forward to rest his head on his hand.   
  
Sam and Dean closed their eyes and groaned, and leaned backwards at the same time. A jolt raced through Dean’s body as it moved further back than the wall was expected to be, and before he knew it he was on his back. He opened his eyes to see an open blue sky, with fluffy white clouds drifting lazily overhead. He blinked and quickly sat up. The three of them were sitting on the Impala’s roof now, and the car itself was parked in the middle of a dusty, yellowish road in the middle of what seemed to be a similar field as the one from earlier.    
  
“Or… we aren’t…” Sam finished for Cas in confusion.    
  
“Alright. I’ve had enough of this getting yanked around crap,” Dean complained as he hopped down from the roof, “We need answers.”    
  
“From where, Dean?” Sam asked him, holding his arms out and looking around them. He slid down from the roof and continued, “I mean, I have a pretty good feeling we’re not exactly in Kansas anymore.”    
  
Dean laughed at that and Sam groaned, already knowing what was coming. “Please don’t--” he started, but the words were already out of Dean’s mouth.    
  
“Maybe we’re ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ Sam,” he joked, elbowing his brother.    
  
Cas joined them standing on the ground. “The skies are blue,” he added, grinning affectionately at Dean.    
  
“Aww, not you too, Cas,” Sam said disapprovingly, and continued to his own surprise, “It’s not like the dreams that we dare to dream really do come true.”    
  
“Thatta boy, Sammy,” Dean congratulated him, slapping him on the back.    
  
Sam’s mouth hung open and he looked vexed. “Why did I say that?” he asked himself with a grimace.    
  
The answer to why he said that was not discussed though, as they heard one of the Impala’s doors from the other side of the car open and shut. They spun around to look, but no one was there. Confused, they slowly turned around and jumped when someone was suddenly standing where they had been previously looking. It was hard to make out who it was at first with the sun shining in their eyes, but once they did, they burst into laughter. Standing before them in a gorgeously sparkling, poofy, rose pink dress and wearing a tall, glistening, silver crown was none other than the King of Hell, Crowley.    
  
He rolled his eyes. “Are you three done yet?” he asked in irritation, “Or do I need to make you be done?”    
  
“What’s with the get-up, Crowley?” Sam asked him, still giggling.    
  
“You look ridiculous,” Cas stated.    
  
Crowley glared at them. “I’ll have you know I look  _ splendid _ ,” he spat through gritted teeth.    
  
“Yeah we get it Crowley,” Dean chuckled, “You’re the prettiest girl at this dance.” Crowley opened his mouth to counter, but Dean continued before he could make any remarks.    
  
“You don’t happen to know what’s going on, do you?”    
  
“Oh I know,” Crowley teased, “But before I tell any of you anything, I’m going to take a moment and savor the fact that, once again, Moose, Squirrel, and Feathers have gone and gotten themselves into somewhat of a predicament, and are in need of  _ my _ services in rescuing them.”    
  
He smiled as they rolled their eyes.    
  
Cas took a step toward him.    
  
“Look, Crowley--”   
  
“Ah ah ah,” Crowley interrupted, waving a finger at Cas before pressing it up to his lips to keep him from saying anything else. With his other hand, he gestured to himself. “Still relishing this.”    
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, and Sam stuck his hands into his pockets, and Cas sighed as the three of them waited impatiently for Crowley to finish rubbing things in. After a moment, Crowley stepped back from Cas.    
  
“Simply put, some creature is on the loose and has trapped some girl somewhere in her dreams” he explained, rocking back on his heels, “and since you three happen to be here, I would imagine it’s now on your heads to defeat the beast and help her return home.”    
  
They looked at him, dumbfounded.    
  
“You mean you brought us here to save someone?” Dean asked skeptically, “Is this what you wanted to talk to us about earlier?”   
  
“Oh I’m not the one who brought you here,” Crowley replied, looking at his nails.    
  
“Then who did?” Cas asked impatiently.    
  
Crowley let out an irritated sigh. “The person you’re looking for calls himself The Trickster. So, find the girl, save her from the thing, and off you all go to see him together or some nonsense like that. He’s your best bet to get out of this place.”    
  
It seemed like one of those moments he would disappear, so Cas grabbed his arm. “And what about you?” he asked, turning his head slightly.    
  
“And wait a minute--where do we find her?” Sam added.    
  
“Easy,” Crowley said, smiling at them, “you just follow this road you’re on.” With that, he tugged his arm out of Cas’ grasp and was gone.    
  
“Gabriel…,” Dean growled.


	3. The Girl

“So do you guys think it’s really him?” Sam asked, resting his elbow on the open window of the Impala as it sped down the road, a cloud of yellow dust billowing out behind it as it went.  
  
“Of course it’s him, Sam,” Dean said, scanning either side of the road for any sign of… well… _anything_ .  They had been driving for 45 minutes already, and all they’d seen was endless grassy fields for miles in all directions. “This is exactly the kind of crap he’d pull,” he added, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice, “I mean, this girl probably isn’t even real. This whole thing is probably just another game to teach us some lesson.”  
  
Cas leaned forward, pointing somewhere to the right out the front window. “Dean, there’s a house in the near distance. That may be what we’re intended to find.”  
  
Dean squinted and held his hand over his eyes, looking in the direction Cas was pointing. “What house, Cas? There’s nothing--”  
  
He slammed on the brakes, steering hard to the right as the road disappeared and a house was suddenly in front of them. The Impala skidded to a stop a few feet from the river that ran through it.  
  
“The sooner we get out of this place, the better,” Dean complained, leaving the car and slamming the door behind him. Sam and Cas followed him out of the car and up to the riverbank.  
  
“How are we supposed to get inside?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow at the front door, which while not very far from the edge, looked to be submerged a third of the way up.  
  
Without hesitation, Dean stepped into the water. Shrugging, Sam glanced at Cas, already doing the same. Probably unsurprisingly, when Dean tried the door handle it was unlocked. Less expected was the ease with which the door opened, and the fact that there was no water inside the house. Nor did any flood inside when they entered. Sam looked behind them and saw the river was no longer there. His lips thinned and he raised his arms in a motion of surrender, done with making any guesses about how this world worked.  
  
They walked through the house, looking around, and in only a minute or two they found themselves in a large room. It seemed to become the only room as they entered it, as all three walls had large windows with a view outside. In the center of the room lay a girl, and it was clear she must be the one they were supposed to look for. Sam nudged Dean’s arm.  
  
“Is that the same girl we saw earlier?” he asked, taking a hesitant step towards her.  
  
“It is,” Cas answered for him.  
  
Before anyone could comment further, she started to sit up and looked around. She stopped when she caught sight of the three of them, but she didn’t look surprised to see three random guys standing in the doorway.  
  
“Oh, it’s you,” she said simply.  
  
“Yeah! It’s us,” Dean snapped at her, “And by the way, thanks for leaving us hanging like that earlier.”  
  
“Dean,” Sam cut in, trying to keep any tension down.  
  
The girl furrowed her brows as if she had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
“Earlier, at your school or wherever we were? The three guys you saw standing outside the window, miles up in the air for who-the-hell-knows what reason, trying to get someone to let us inside?” Dean reminded her, arms raised for emphasis.  
  
She looked down, seeming to consider the information, and after a moment she looked back up, looking only more confused. “I… think I know where you’re talking about… But I didn’t see anyone standing out that window. I only stopped to look because it was stained glass.”  
  
“Oh, well, it must have been some kinda art then,” Dean remarked sarcastically.  
  
The girl only looked down again, her hand on her chin. “Come to think of it though, I _did_ find it strange…” she said.  
  
“Find what strange?” Sam asked.  
  
“The light shining through the window,” she replied, looking at Sam as she finally stood up, “It wasn’t the same sunlight I saw in the hallway. It was an almost blindingly bright white, with just a few flashes of color. I mean it wasn’t the colorful glasswork I thought I’d see, but it was still pretty. I wanted to look some more, but then I remembered I was late to class already.”    
  
Cas turned to face Sam and Dean. “What she probably saw was my attempt to break the window,” he said, and then turned to face the girl. “But I had already stopped when Sam noticed you standing there,” he added, tilting his head to the side, “and you remained there for a few minutes after.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I didn’t see anyone out there, or I’d have done something, I think.”  
  
“Maybe time was moving differently for her in the school,” Sam suggested with a shrug.  
  
“But wait a second,” Dean started, jabbing an accusatory finger toward the girl, “when you first woke up, you said ‘oh, it’s you’, like you knew us or something.”  
  
The girl laughed. “Um, yeah? Sam, Cas, and Dean,” she explained, pointing at each of them as she said their names.  
  
Sam’s eyes widened as he came to a realization, and then he held his hand up to his head, as if a migraine was coming on.  
  
“Do we know you?” Cas asked her.  
  
“I don’t think so,” she replied, “But I know you guys.”  
  
“You’re one of Chuck’s fans, aren’t you?” Sam finally stated more than asked.  
  
“I mean, in a way, but not really.”  
  
Sam started to ask, but Dean held up his hand to stop him. “It’s probably better we don’t know,” he said.  
  
Sam sighed. He knew Dean was right. Instead, he raised his arm helplessly and asked, “Ok. Well, do you know anything about why you’re here?”  
  
“A friend of mine and I were at a concert earlier, and this is the room we rented at the nearby inn,” she answered.  
  
“You booked a room at an inn with a river running through it?” Dean asked.  
  
“Well there wasn’t a river when we booked it,” she said as if that was obvious. She continued, “I had a feeling something was off about the place, but I didn’t think anything of it. We just went to bed, and then I woke up in the middle of the night with a really bad feeling. But then the water started to rise, and something told me to “stay close to the sharks”, so that’s what we did.”  
  
Dean looked around the room, but Cas beat him to the question.  
  
“Where’s your friend now?” he asked.  
  
Now the girl looked around the room. “I don’t know,” was all she said.  
  
“I’d also ask ‘what sharks?’ but so far nothing else has made any sense in this place, so why should this?” Dean mumbled.  
  
Sam gave him a pitying look, fully empathizing with his frustration. He looked back at the girl. “So, um… this is going to sound weird,” he started, preparing the usual “monsters are real and we’re here to help you speech” before backtracking at the knowledge that she already knew them and what they do. “Or maybe not, considering everything else... But we’re all trapped here until we find the thing responsible and kill it or something,” he finished.  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Do you know anything about that?”  
  
She thought for a moment before replying. “No…,” she trailed, before continuing, pounding her fist into her hand, “But I bet it’s what escaped from the prison!”  
  
“What? What prison?” Dean asked. A heavy sigh from Cas gave the answer before his actual words did.  
  
“The one we’re now standing in…”  
  
A loud crackling noise startled them, and they looked up sharply toward the source: a speaker, attached to the wall at one of the corners.  
  
“Welly well well, look who we have here!” spoke a familiar sounding voice.  
  
“Gabriel!” Dean yelled, “We saved the girl, now send us all home!”   
  
“‘Send you home?’” the voice laughed, “You think I’m just gonna let a bunch of criminals run free?”   
  
“What? We’re not criminals, Gabriel!” Sam shouted, affronted by the accusation.   
  
“No? Coulda fooled me being in that cell,” the voice replied, “you know--where _criminals_ are usually locked up. They always tell me they’re not criminals too, but maybe I’ve just been wrong this whole time. Maybe--”   
  
“Gabriel, enough with the games,” Cas interrupted, glaring at the speakers.   
  
“And there’s that--you all keep calling me that, but I have _no idea_ who this ‘Gabriel’ is that you speak of. I am The Trickster, great and powerful, thank you very much!” the voice huffed.   
  
“Cut the act, Gabriel!” Dean barked.   
  
“Ahem. ‘The Trickster’,” the voice replied.   
  
The girl cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her--even the speakers somehow. “So uh, not criminals or anything. We came to catch the thing? That’s why we’re here,” she said awkwardly.   
  
“Ah that’s right!” Dean bemoaned, wiping a hand down his face, “Crowley did mention something about a monster trapping us here.” After a short pause, he turned to look sharply at the girl. “And how the hell did you know that, anyway?!” he added.   
  
“Lucky guess?”   
  
Dean looked like he was going to have a breakdown, so Cas placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently and looking him directly in the eye in a consolatory fashion. Sam noticed the girl watching the action with a slight sparkle in her eyes, and suddenly a prime teasing opportunity presented itself to him. He opened his mouth to take full advantage of it, but before he could say anything, the speakers started speaking again.   
  
“Well why didn’t you say so!” it beamed cheerfully, “Why, that’s a horse of a different color!”   
  
A second later, they heard a click followed by the creaking of the cell doors opening. Rolling their eyes, they grudgingly stepped out and found themselves to be the only ones on the entire block.   
  
“All the other criminals say the same thing, he said,” Dean muttered under his breath.   
  
“Oh but they do, sunshine,” the voice replied. Dean shot the other set of speaker a little ways down the hall an offended look at having been overheard. The speakers ignored it, and continued, “How about this? You three bring me back the Dream Eater, and then maybe I’ll help you all get home. Sound good?”   
  
“The what?” Dean asked, and then shook his head. “And you’re not _maybe_ helping us, ‘Trickster’,” he added, using air quotes at the name, “you _are_ helping us or so help me I’ll--”  
  
“Dean,” Sam said, cutting him off and placing a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head slowly and gave him a look warning him not to be antagonizing, as tempting as it might be. Dean bit his lip.   
  
Cas glanced at them before looking back at the speakers and asking, “What do you mean by asking us to bring the monster to you? Its body? A part of its body? An object that it’s bound to?”   
  
“I meant bring the Dream Eater back to me--the whole thing--in one piece and preferably not dead, if you don’t mind,” the voice answered.   
  
Sam raised a finger, planning to ask how they were supposed to catch it, or where they were supposed to find it, and what it was even supposed to look like, but in the blink of an eye, they were no longer in the prison and instead found themselves in the middle of the street in an abandoned looking part of some city.   
  
“Well, I guess we should start looking…,” the girl said, scratching the back of her head.   
  
“Guess so…,” Sam agreed, and the four of them began down the road, on the lookout for whatever it was they were meant to be looking out for. 


	4. The Horse of a Different Color

“So what are we even looking for?” Dean asked as they rounded a corner and found themselves in a dirty looking parking lot. A trash tornado spiraled upwards with a gust of wind.  
  
“I’m not sure…,” Cas answered.  
  
“Oh, I know what it looks like,” the girl suddenly said, casually.  
  
They came to a stop and stared at her. Strings started playing, faintly, somewhere in the distance. It was probably cause for at least a little investigation, but for some reason they couldn’t move themselves to care. Sam rested one hand on his hip and gestured at the girl with the other.  
  
“It, um... That--that would have been helpful to know when we got here,” he said, trying to be patient.  
  
“Yes, it would have,” Dean agreed, less patiently. The strings become a little louder, and what sounded like brass instruments and a clarinet joined them in a moderately paced 4/4 rhythm that was familiar, but that he couldn’t place a finger on. He wanted to ask the others if they recognized it, but he couldn’t manage the words out. Instead, he sighed, and rubbing his temples he asked, “So what does this thing look like?”  
  
The girl got a weird look in her eye suddenly, as if she wasn’t paying attention to what he had asked. She just stood there, spacing out and not answering.  
  
Sam looked around them. “Does anyone else hear music coming from somewhere?” he asked.  
  
“Yeah I was just going to mention it myself,” Dean said, though he didn’t know if he’d ever have been able to get around to it, “I can’t figure out where, but I’ve heard it before.”  
  
“You two would know it better than I would, but I do hear the music Sam is talking about, and I think there are people singing” Cas stated.  
  
The three of them turned their heads toward the direction they thought it was coming from, each way different, and listened. A chorus of voices drifted eerily through the air, faint and echoing, singing:  
  
“ _Boys and girls of every age_ ,”  
They looked at each other, confused, until the voices continued:  
  
“ _Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?_ ”  
  
Dean shut his eyes. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he groaned.  
  
Sam’s face also had recognition spreading across it, as did Cas’, as did the girl’s. “That’s what it looks like!” she suddenly, and belatedly, answered. They looked around, expecting to see something, but nothing was there. The music kept playing in the background and before they could ask for details, she continued her explanation, “‘I am the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red. I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair.’”  
  
“So we’re looking for a creature resembling something from the film ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’?” Cas asked.  
  
“I… guess so,” Sam replied.  
  
“No,” the girl corrected, shaking her head. The chorus of voices continued:  
  
“ _In this town, don’t we love it now? Everybody’s waiting for the next surprise._ ”  
  
And then suddenly, from right next to them:  
  
“ _Round that corner, man hiding in the trashcan,_ ”  
  
For some reason the line caused an unease to begin building in the air around them, even drowning out the frustration caused by the previous capricious answers.  
  
“ _Something’s waiting now to pounce,_ ”  
  
The hair stood up on the backs of their necks.  
  
“ _And how_ ”  
  
At the sound of metal rattling behind them, all four of them turned around, a sense of overwhelming dread heavy in the air as the next line was sung.  
  
“ _You’ll_ scream!”  
  
Except the word “scream” was joined by an actual scream from the garbage cans they were facing, as they violently crashed to the ground and something flew out of them. They weren’t sure why, but terror overcame them and they scrambled in the opposite direction, Dean grabbing Cas’ coat to pull him along for fear he’d try and confront whatever it was they were now running from. They also weren’t sure what that thing was, but all they needed to know was that _something_ was now chasing them, and it wouldn’t be good if it caught them. In fact, it would be very bad. As they passed it, a tree nearby sang in a low voice and with wicked delight:  
  
“ _Everybody scream! Everybody scream!_ ”  
  
Sam skidded to a stop, grabbing hold of the girl and Dean while Dean had a hold of Cas. A figure stood not too far away in the middle of the street, completely shadowed by the darkness the streetlights couldn’t reach. His eyes widened as it impishly called out:  
  
“ _I am the_ clown _with a tear-away_ face _!_ ”  
  
And before he could react it appeared directly in front of him, still dark and featureless, but Sam knew it was still exactly what it said it was. It continued in a now dark and monstrous voice:  
  
“ _Here in a flash and gone without a trace!_ ”  
  
It vanished, and paralyzed, all Sam could do was grip Dean’s sleeve tighter.  
  
“ _I am the ‘who’ when you call ‘who’s there?’_ ” said a whispery voice.  
  
And from a cold wind howling past them:  
  
“ _I am the wind blowing through your hair!_ ”  
  
The thing they were running from caught up as they stood there. They couldn’t see it, but they could feel it. It loomed over them and sang darkly, “ _I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the_ brim _with_ fright _!_ ”  
  
This time, Cas pulled his arm from Dean’s grasp and extended it towards the creature. Nothing happened. The thing began to laugh, and Cas’ expression turned to worry as he retracted his hand. He turned and started pushing the others forward, telling them to run, and so they were running again.  
  
“Is it going to go through the whole freaking song?!” Dean exclaimed as they fled.  
  
All at once the music stopped, along with the singing, and they also felt the presence of the thing disappear with it. They slowed down and came to a stop as well.  
  
“Was that thing... the Dream Eater?” Sam gasped out, bent down with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.  
  
“I think it was, or a form of it,” Cas answered, turning to face the direction they had been running from.  
  
“Ok, but what was with the musical number, and why’d we all freak out so much?” Dean asked, “I mean the movie it’s from isn’t exactly what anyone over the age of 10 would call scary.”  
  
“I think it has to do with what Crowley was telling us earlier, about this girl being trapped in her dreams,” Sam reminded them.  
  
Dean ran a hand through his hair in frustration, and then turned to the girl. “Hey,” he addressed her. When she looked at him, he continued, “So if these are your dreams, why don’t you just dream we already caught this thing so we can all just go home?”  
  
An apologetic look appeared on her face. “That’s not how it works,” she said.  
  
Dean’s attempts at patience were already being tried. “Whaddya mean?” he asked, throwing his arms out to the side in invitation of the next, likely ridiculous reply.  
  
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging and looking to the side.  
  
Dean huffed and put his hands in his pockets, and turned back to Sam.  
  
“I don’t think she has a lot of control over her dreams, Dean,” he said, “I mean, do you always have control over yours?”  
  
Dean’s eyes briefly flicked over to Cas, who returned his look with some curiosity, and then back at his brother. He bit his lip. He wanted to be stubborn about it, but Sam had a point. “No Sam, I don’t,” he answered.  
  
Sam shrugged and patted Dean on the shoulder to imply a “well there you go then”.  
  
“Sam, what if she’s another Becky?” Dean asked with exasperated worry, “And one of her dreams takes a turn for the weird?”  
  
“I’d say things are already pretty weird, Dean,” Sam replied, starting to become dismissive of his concerns.  
  
“Yeah they are,” the girl agreed.  
  
Cas cleared his throat, getting their attention. “We should probably start moving again. We still haven’t found a way to catch the creature, and we don’t know if and when it’ll come back,” he said.  
  
The girl suddenly looked back up at the sky and recoiled as another cold wind blew at them harshly. “That would be now!” she shouted, and once again they found themselves running from _something_ but without knowing what. Lions? Tigers, maybe? Bears? "Oh, my!" they all cried out as they made their escape.  
  
A cackling roared from behind them, and they ran faster.  
  
All of a sudden there was the sound of drums and electric guitar, and everything became pink and sparkly, and hearts and bubbles floated in the air around them. Sam, Dean, and Cas rose into the air, seemingly lifted by their chests, arms and legs spread out to their sides and palms turned outward. They could tell all their clothes were gone, but by some sort of divine providence of cartoon censorship taking pity on them, their bodies were now black silhouettes against the shimmering rosy background.  
  
“What the hell?!” Dean yelled, trying to flail but not being able to move his body.  
  
“ _Clean shirt, new shoes, and I don’t know where I am goin’ to. Silk suit, black tie. I don’t need a reason why._ ”  
  
As the lyrics of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” played, each time an article of clothing was mentioned, it appeared on them with a _poof_. They seemed to rotate in the air while this was happening, or the view rotated around them. They couldn’t tell.  
  
“ _Gold watch, diamond ring, I ain’t missin’ not a single thing._ ”  
  
There was a flash of light near their hands and wrists, and the accessories were there.  
  
“ _And cuff links, stick pin. When I step out I’m gonna do you in._ ”  
  
As the mentioned items were fixed to them by some strange force, they began to be lowered to the ground again. They were no longer silhouetted. However, they were still stuck in the dramatic poses, and when their feet finally touched the ground, something truly awful happened, from their perspective. Instead of their bodies being allowed to relax back into a natural standing position, a Japanese onomatopoeia appeared in the air, and they found themselves to be in an even more regrettable pose. Dean was back to back with Cas, partially turned so their upper bodies were facing mostly frontward. They were winking and grinning toothily, and Dean’s right and Cas’ left arm were held up in what looked like a salute, except their hands formed the victory sign at their eye. Meanwhile, Sam was in front of them, kneeling on the ground on one knee and facing completely forward. His head was tilted down, so he had to look upward. He had the same goofy expression on his face, but at the very least he had the Colt and was pointing it directly at the Dream Eater.  
  
Another embarrassing sequence began to get them into equally embarrassing battle positions. Dean was now facing Cas, their bodies pressed close and hands clasped together, but both looking forward. Their cheeks were almost touching, and speaking of, Dean could feel his heating up. Sam was now standing, still in front, both hands clasped around the Colt and feet spaced apart as if it was some massively forceful weapon that would send him flying back if he didn’t. The three of them shared the same look of determination shining in their eyes.  
  
“In the name of free will, we will punish you!” he found himself crying out as the guitars continued to play the part that’s like three minutes into the song. He pulled the trigger, and a large ball of light built up, and then dissipated as a gleaming bullet shot toward the monster. It didn’t leave the barrel in slow motion, but it slowed through the air, and kept slowing, until it finally came to a stop. It took them a few moments to realize that it wasn’t just the bullet that froze, but time itself.  
  
“This is our chance,” Cas said quickly, turning and running again while still holding onto Dean’s hand.  
  
With his free hand, Dean grabbed Sam’s, who in turn grabbed the girl’s hand, and they fled that way down the street. After what felt like minutes, the girl declared happily, “We’ll be safe over in the flowers!”  
  
Just like that, they were standing amidst a field of colorful flowers and it was daytime again. Ignoring the beauty, Dean patted his front and looked down, and was relieved to see that he was once again wearing his own clothing. He glanced around, and Sam and Cas were likewise returned to wearing their usual outfits. “That’s not something I ever want to happen again,” he said, his casual tone sarcastically emphasizing how disturbing he had found the experience.  
  
“Yeah,” Sam and Cas agreed. Everyone avoided eye contact.  
  
“I don’t know, that was kind of fun,” the girl remarked. She started walking through the flowers, and the three of them rolled their eyes as they followed.  
  
The new setting was relaxing as they wandered through it. A pleasant aroma of roses and other assorted flowers permeated the air. Interestingly enough, which flowers surrounded them at any given moment and what color they were seemed to occasionally just change. Still, certain types and colors seemed to favor each of them. The girl stopped to admire some bright orange asters and marigolds that surrounded her. Nearby them were yellow roses. She picked one and held onto it as they walked. Sam was curious about the patches of various daisies and yellow daffodils that seemed to follow him. Daffodils also appeared around Cas and Dean, in addition to white roses and light blue delphinium around Cas while Dean was accompanied by bright white holly flowers. He spotted an orange and yellow hibiscus flower as it fell directly in front of him out of nowhere. Cautiously looking around first, he picked it up, not knowing why but deciding to carry it with him.  
  
They continued walking through the flowers for some time, until the girl pointed at some vividly colored rhododendron bushes in the distance. “Oh, we should go look at those!” she exclaimed, but when she started toward them Dean grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.  
  
“Those are a sign of warning,” Dean informed her, “So we’re most definitely _not_ going to go look at them.”  
  
She looked disappointed and sighed, “Aww…”  
  
Sam gave Dean a surprised look, and bemused, commented, “I didn’t know you knew anything about flower symbolism, Dean.”  
  
“It’s a useful thing to know for getting dates,” Dean said casually. He frowned at the yellow tulips that started springing up around him.  
  
“Yeah ok,” Sam laughed.  
  
Cas looked around at the various blooms and then to Dean. He wanted to ask what they meant. As if on queue, a red tulip grew in front of him. He picked it and offered it to Dean, asking, “What does this one mean?”  
  
Dean accepted the flower and blushed, coughing into his arm in an attempt to hide it. “Nothing, really,” he lied.  
  
At his words, red, pink, and orange roses started to bloom around them, as well as more red tulips and then pink tulips. Cas looked at them with interest. “What about those?” he asked again.  
  
Before Dean could make anything up, the tulips began to bounce, singing, “Suki suki suki suki suki~ suki~! A-i-shi-te~ru!”  
  
Now it was Dean’s turn to be confused. He looked toward the girl, who was trying to stifle some giggles, and then back to Cas. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “What the hell was that?”  
  
“Japanese…,” Cas answered, looking downward and gently clearing his throat.  
  
“Oh, of course,” Dean said, tossing his arms up, then looking for more detail asked, “And what did the suddenly Japanese flowers have to say, exactly?”  
  
“Uh, nothing,” Cas answered, mirroring Dean’s earlier reply, “They said we should continue forward.”  
  
Sam looked between them skeptically, and the the wide grin on the girl’s face suggested his skepticism was accurate and called for. Still, no one pressed the matter further, and they continued through the field. Shortly, they reached the end of the flower field and found themselves in the same grassland as before. They looked around, and Sam shrugged. “Guess we’re back where we started,” he said.  
  
“Think we’ll see Crowley again?” Dean asked.  
  
“If we do, then we should see if we can get more answers from him,” Cas answered.  
  
“Or we can ask that!” the girl said, pointing at a weird looking creature ambling toward them in the distance.  
  
The thing was yellow, with a fluffy looking ring of white fur around its neck. It had sleepy eyes and a large nose, and its ears were tall and pointy and sat on the top of its head like a cat’s, but facing directly forward. It walked on two legs, and seemed to be around five feet tall or so. In one of its hands, it held a shiny silver pendulum, which swung back and forth in a soothing rhythm as it approached them. They felt a familiar sense of fear, but couldn’t seem to move while watching it.  
  
“It’s the Dream Eater,” Cas stated. He flexed his hand, willing himself to avoid getting caught in any trances.  
  
“Shit,” Sam and Dean said simultaneously.  
  
The Dream Eater stopped a few feet away from them and smiled. It was unsettling.  
  
“I know how to catch it though,” the girl whispered.  
  
“How’s that?” Dean asked, still mesmerized by the swinging motion of the pendulum.  
  
There was a short pause, and then the girl quickly reached into a pocket and pulled out a pokeball. At the sight of it, Sam and Dean groaned. She chucked the ball at the Dream Eater, but it sparkled and emitted a whistling sound as it flew to the side and past the creature.  
  
“I missed?!” she squeaked.  
  
The Dream Eater’s smile widened into an eerie grin, and it continued moving toward them. Before it could get too close however, Cas managed to grab the girl’s arm and yanked her backward. Free from the hypnosis, he grabbed the backs of Sam and Dean’s jackets and pulled them away from the creature as well. The sudden force was enough to snap them out of it, and they began running again as frantic pan-flute music began to play.  
  
They were gaining distance from the Dream Eater, but then a cloud of large, blue things with no eyes appeared in the skies and flew directly at them. The cries coming from their gaping mouths were shrill screeches that caused the four of them to suddenly become disoriented, their vision swimming and their movements unbalanced. In no time at all, the things swarmed upon them in a wave of gnashing jaws and flapping batwings, preventing them from fleeing further. They tried to swat the creatures away, but that only resulted in their arms and sides being bitten at. The pan-flute music became more intense, mixing cacophonously with the sounds from the things flying all around them.  The Dream Eater soon caught up with them, and the creatures hectically separated the girl from the other three. She watched as it swung its pendulum, and the air around it seemed to wave and bend. It extended a hand to her.  
  
“Why not?” she said, taking it.  
  
As soon as she did, they vanished.


	5. Not a Dream

The girl suddenly found herself to be the only one sitting in a darkened movie theater. The screen in front of her flickered light grey.   
  
“Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of zubats!” the Dream Eater sneered, “Thought you were pretty foxy, didn’t you? Well! The last to go will see the first three go before her!” It cackled, and added, “And your mangy little dog, too!”   
  
“What? What dog?” the girl wondered in concern.   
  
The screen lit up with an image of the Impala getting T-boned by a semi-truck. It was just the scene from the end of season one, but this time it was the Sam, Dean, and Cas she had been traveling around with in the car. She gasped and brought her hand to her mouth.   
  
“Oh no! Please don’t do anything to hurt them!” she pleaded, eyebrows drawn together in worry.   
  
The screen changed to show various images of each of them lying on the ground, battered and bruised and bloody.   
  
“No!” she cried out.   
  
The Dream Eater snickered, and left her to watching the scenes of them being attacked and tormented. A minute later though, the screen suddenly changed, and the tenth Doctor appeared instead. He spoke, a sort of quiet high-pitched droning accompanying his words that made the atmosphere tense. “They’re coming,” he said in a serious tone, “The angels are coming for you. But listen--your life could depend on this: don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink, and you’re dead.” The droning sound began to intensify as he continued, “They are _fast_ , faster than you can believe. Don’t turn you back, don’t look away, and don’t. Blink.” He paused, looking sincere, and added, “Good luck.”   
  
The screen was now black, casting the theater in pitch darkness. The girl sat frozen in her seat, doing her best to keep her eyes open but now too afraid to move or look around, not that she’d be able to see much if she did. From what she could tell, there were no signs the Dream Eater nearby, but that didn’t mean that nothing else was lurking in the darkness. She took a few deep breaths, and then slowly, trembling, lifted herself from the seat. When a few moments went by and nothing happened, she gained a little more confidence--enough to hesitantly make her way toward where she thought she remembered a door being. After stumbling around, she finally found them. As she opened them, she seemed to forget any fearful feelings. She walked into the concessions area, and was surprised when two other friends waved her over.   
  
“Hey! We’ve been looking all over for you!” they called to her. She smiled and ran over to them. “Where’ve you been?” they asked.   
  
“I um… I don’t know?” she offered, and she really wasn’t sure. At a place... but the memory seemed to slip from her grasp.   
  
“Well come on,” they chuckled, “the show’s about to begin! Now where’s your husband?”   
  
The girl looked at them, confused, and now she remembered what happened. She was in the theater. She was somewhere else, and these weren’t really her friends. She started to feel awkward, realizing she’d have to explain the mix-up to these people. “I uh, don’t have a husband,” she said. She sighed, and tried her best to be polite while informing them, “I’m not actually from here, if that makes sense. This is like, a different world or something. I’m just trapped here right now.”

They looked at her strangely, not sure if she was joking or not. “That’s funny,” they allowed, “but we don’t have time for games. Now find your husband and let’s go.”   
  
“No, I really don’t have one…,” the girl insisted.   
  
“Yes you do,” they insisted back. They pointed to the side, and said, “There he is right there!”   
  
The girl looked where they pointed and saw Cas standing there, looking unsure about the exchange taking place between them. “Cas? He’s not my husband,” she laughed.   
  
“But he is!” they continued to claim, “And we’re all going to be late for the next movie if we don’t hurry!”   
  
“No, he isn’t,” she lightly asserted, still laughing about the preposterousness, and then turning to face Cas, asked, “Isn’t that right?”   
  
“Yes, that’s right…,” Cas affirmed, nodding slightly.   
  
They looked like they were going to argue, but instead they walked away.   
  
“My, people come and go so quickly here,” the girl remarked.   
  
“They do,” Cas agreed, before continuing, “Now, we need to--”   
  
“I mean, can you believe they thought that?” she laughed again, interrupting him. He sighed, and tried to speak again, but she continued over him, “You’re not my husband.”   
  
“I’m not. That’s correct. But--”   
  
“Your Dean’s.”   
  
Cas blinked at her, not expecting that comment. From somewhere behind him, a muffled and somewhat disembodied voice seemed to stutter, asking, “My _what?_ Excuse me? _What?_ ” followed by a “Dean!” from another voice.   
  
Oh, that’s right. Sam and Dean were also there. She was suddenly able to see them standing just behind Cas, Sam trying to fight back an amused grin in favor of a more serious expression, and Dean’s face bright red and looking very disgruntled.   
  
“Oh. I’m sorry?” the girl tried.   
  
Cas rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s just go,” he said.   
  
Before anyone could move, the Dream Eater returned. “Going so soon?” it crooned, “I wouldn’t hear of it. Why, my little party’s just beginning!” It swung its pendulum, and the air started moving around it again.   
  
“That won’t work this time!” she shouted, “Its accuracy rate is too low!” She produced another pokeball from her pocket and threw it at the Dream Eater, this time hitting it square in the nose.   
  
The ball bounced back off it and opened, a red light pouring out of it and surrounding the Dream Eater, confining it in the small space. It landed on the ground and shook once… twice… and then it opened again and the Dream Eater burst free from it. It leveled a mean look at them all, intending on intimidating them into being unable to escape.   
  
But, not at all discouraged, the girl pulled out a light blue pokeball that was painted to look as if water was splashed on it. “How about this?” she said, and chucked it at the monster. It was another direct hit, and the Dream Eater’s eyes widened and it wailed as the light surrounded and pulled it into the pokeball yet again. It shook three times this time, and the light in the center flashed on to indicate a successful capture.   
  
“Finally!” the girl shouted cheerfully, “We caught it!”   
  
Dean, Cas, and Sam heaved a sigh of relief, closing their eyes. When they opened them again, they were in a different, fancier looking room.   
  
“Leave the ball, and go,” the voice belonging to definitely-not-Gabriel-but-The-Great-and-Powerful-Trickster boomed.   
  
“Wait a minute, what about the promise you made to send them home?” the girl asked, gesturing at Sam, Dean, and Cas.   
  
“Yeah, and the promise you made to send her home!” Sam added, pointing at the girl.   
  
“I’ve changed my mind.”   
  
“What? You can’t do that! You can’t just change your mind!” Dean shouted.   
  
“Uh, yeah, I can and I believe I just did,” the voice replied.   
  
Cas stormed over to a closed door that had some kind of smoke or steam billowing out from under it. It was the direction the voice seemed to be coming from.   
  
“Pay no attention to the steam under that doorway!” the voice commanded, but Cas was already swinging it wide open, revealing a fresh-out-of-the-shower Gabriel with a towel wrapped around his waist. He waggled his eyebrows at Cas.   
  
“Likin’ what you’re seein’, big boy?” he teased, and closed the door again. “Now, as I was saying,” he tried to continue, but Cas just opened the door back up.   
  
“No one ever thought that it wasn’t you, dude,” the girl said.   
  
Gabriel looked around the room and sighed. “I guess the jig is up then,” he said, crossing his arms, “Wow, you guys really are no fun at all.”   
  
Sam stepped forward. “Gabriel, why are you even doing this? I mean we find out you’re not actually dead, and you’ve been what--hiding this whole time? Despite everything that’s happened? And now you decide to show up and start messing with us?” he asked, frustrated.   
  
“It’s because he’s running again, like a coward,” Dean stated sternly, folding his arms across his chest.     
  
Gabriel hummed in amusement. He snapped his fingers and was suddenly wearing one of his get-ups from Casa Erotica. “You, my friends, are victims of disorganized thinking,” he told them matter-of-factly, “You’re under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away it means you’re a coward; you’re mistaking wisdom for cowardice.”   
  
“That’s fine and all but we just want to go home,” the girl replied.   
  
“Cassie knows how to help ya, right?” he chirped, patting a very unamused Cas on the back.   
  
“I don’t, Gabriel,” he groused.   
  
Gabriel just grinned at him. “Of course you do! Just think about it for a second,” he said.   
  
Cas gave him a look of annoyance, and then took a moment to consider a way to send the girl home. A minute went by, and then finally, he suggested, “Close your eyes and try to focus on going home.”   
  
The girl did just that. She closed her eyes and tried to picture herself back home. After a second or two, she cracked an eye open. “I’m still here,” she said.   
  
Cas thought about it a second longer. “Do it again, but this time focus on where you are. Where you really are, I mean,” he added.   
  
The girl closed her eyes again, and this time focused on that. Another few seconds went by, and she asked, “Did it work?”   
  
“No,” they all replied.   
  
She opened her eyes again and sighed heavily, disappointed.   
  
“Oh! I have an idea,” Gabriel spoke up.   
  
“Don’t just start guessing, Gabriel,” Dean complained, “Just tell us.”   
  
“The Trickster never guesses. He knows!” Gabriel replied jovially. He turned toward the girl. “Now just do what Castiel suggested, but this time, repeat this phrase as you do,” he said.   
  
The girl nodded and closed her eyes again, listening for the phrase she needed to say.   
  
“Repeat it verbatim!” Gabriel warned, “Or who knows where you’ll end up.” He continued, “Come on, baby don’t you want to go, back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago.”   
  
Sam and Dean rolled their eyes but didn’t say anything, just wanting to get this finished.   
  
The girl smiled. “I am glad Death liked our pizza,” she said, and then cleared her throat and focused all her attention on where she really was. “Come on,” she repeated, “baby don’t you want to go, back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago.”   
  
The lights flickered, and she was gone.   
  
“Finally!” Dean exclaimed, “Now send us back, Gabriel, and when we’re back in the bunker you’re going to have some serious explaining to do.”   
  
“I’m afraid I can’t be joining you there, kiddo,” Gabriel said with a bittersweet smile, clapping a hand on Dean’s shoulder.   
  
“What do you mean?” Sam and Cas asked.   
  
“I mean you boneheads are all dreaming right now,” he answered, smiling at them.   
  
The lights began to flicker as realization struck them. “How do we get home though, or wake up, or whatever?” Dean asked.   
  
“Oh, you know how dreams work. As soon as you notice you’re dreaming, you--”   
  
The three of them opened their eyes at the same time, and took a breath in. Cas looked down at Dean and Sam, who were groggy and still waking up. Sam had been leaning against Cas, resting his head on his shoulder, and he slowly sat himself up, stretching as he did. Dean meanwhile had been leaning across Cas against Sam’s shoulder and clinging to Cas’ arm. Sam’s movement caused him to fall over and startle more awake. He quickly let go of Cas’ arm and scrambled back.   
  
“I just had the most bizarre dream,” he said, rubbing his eyes and yawning.   
  
“Was Gabriel in it?” Cas asked.   
  
Dean stared at him for a bit. “Yeah…,” he answered, “Why? Were you looking in on them or something?”   
  
“No,” Cas replied, moving to stand up, “I think we may have all had the same dream.”   
  
“But it wasn’t a dream!” Sam exclaimed, “It can’t have been!”   
  
“So you’re saying it was real, Sammy?” Dean asked, getting up and stretching.   
  
Sam looked between them. “I don’t know about Gabriel and Crowley actually having been there, but we were clearly placed under some kind of spell, and I think it did something that joined our dreams in some way,” he explained.   
  
“It’s possible,” Cas said pensively.   
  
“Could it have been some kinda weird djinn?”” Dean suggested.   
  
“I don’t know,” Cas replied, “But seems to either have left or been killed if it was.”   
  
Standing in the doorway of the bunker, Sam cleared his throat. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to head inside, you know… just in case,” he said, looking up at the sky and pointing.   
  
Cas and Dean looked up as well, and Dean shrugged. “Sounds like a good idea to me,” he agreed, and they joined Sam in the doorway. Together, the three of them headed back inside to discuss whatever had just happened to them. More importantly though, they were going to enjoy being back at home with each other.   
  
“You guys wanna watch a movie together or something?” Dean asked a little later.   
  
“Sure,” Sam and Cas replied, and Sam continued, suggesting jokingly, “Hey, how about ‘The Wizard of Oz’? It’s a classic.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is, of course, a fic for[spncoldesthits](http://spncoldesthits.tumblr.com/post/159593840230/spncoldesthits-aprils-prompt-posting-dates)! 
> 
> I'll be posting this as chapters because I was informed this was A-OK, and also chapters kind of make it a bit book-like, which kind of fits the theme as well. And yeah, "The Trickster" isn't a very good disguise. It's probably considerately less effective than a curtain and some smoke. This fic is part of a series, but it can be read as a standalone in case that's part of the rules. (I don't see it mentioned, but I thought I remembered someone saying this somewhere else before.) Also, I'll add more tags as I think of them. 
> 
> Also! I am aware it's the poppies that make them fall asleep in the movies and the snow wakes them up, in case anyone is wondering. :P


End file.
